First ELCA member installed as National Council of Churches president

[<NEWS@ELCA.ORG>]

Title: First ELCA member installed as National Council of Churches president
ELCA NEWS SERVICE

>November 9, 2011  

First ELCA member installed as National Council of Churches president
11-134-MRC

CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Kathryn M. Lohre was installed as president of the
National Council of Churches Nov. 9 at a service held at the Lutheran
Center here. A member of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
(ELCA), Lohre is the first Lutheran and ELCA member to serve as president
of the council and the youngest woman to serve in that role.

While her presidency marks these two historic firsts, it will also
be the first time a woman succeeds a woman as president of the council.

Lohre said her presidency also provides a unique opportunity for the
ELCA. It will "visibly demonstrate (this church's) commitment to the
ecumenical vision, as well as its commitment to lifelong ecumenical
formation, leadership development and women's leadership," she said.

Lohre joined the ELCA churchwide staff in October as part of the
ecumenical and inter-religious relations team under the leadership of the
Rev. Donald McCoid, assistant to the presiding bishop, ELCA Ecumenical
and Inter-Religious Relations.

The installation was a service of word and sacrament. McCoid was the
presiding minister and ELCA Presiding Bishop Mark S. Hanson preached the
sermon.

Reflecting on the Book of Amos, Hanson told the assembly, "God's
promise, justice and righteous will flow like refreshing waters of the
highest mountain, it will flow abundantly upon you and through you and
me, flowing into the life of the world just as the light of Jesus will
now flow into your life through bread and wine."

The Rev. Dr. Michael Kinnamon, general secretary for the National
Council of Churches, presided over the installation, which included the
installation of other council officers for the organization. Ecumenical
guests also participated in the service.

In addition to her positions with the ELCA and the National Council
of Churches, Lohre represents the ELCA as a member of the Central
Committee of the World Council of Churches.

Before joining the ELCA churchwide staff, Lohre was assistant
director of the Pluralism Project at Harvard University, a research
project on the changing religious landscape in the United States.

Lohre was a member of the ELCA Bishop's Communal Discernment Task
Force and on the Bishop's Global, Ecumenical and Interfaith Relationships
Roundtable. She served on the former ELCA Commission for Women Steering
Committee and as an assistant to the 2000 ELCA Youth Gathering.

Lohre is a summa cum laude graduate of St. Olaf College in
Northfield, Minn., and earned a Master of Divinity degree at Harvard
Divinity School. St. Olaf is one of 26 ELCA colleges and universities.

In May 2011, the Graduate Theological Foundation in Mishawaka, Ind.,
conferred an honorary Doctor of Divinity to Lohre, "in recognition of her
election as president-elect of the National Council of Churches and also
in recognition of her contributions to women's interfaith issues and
pluralism."

>---

About the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America:
The ELCA is one of the largest Christian denominations in the United
States, with 4.2 million members in 10,000 congregations across the 50
states and in the Caribbean region. Known as the church of "God's work.
Our hands," the ELCA emphasizes the saving grace of God through faith in
Jesus Christ, unity among Christians and service in the world. The ELCA's
roots are in the writings of the German church reformer, Martin Luther.

>For information contact:
>Melissa Ramirez Cooper
>773-380-2956 or Melissa.RamirezCooper@elca.org
>http://www.elca.org/news
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